Warp knitting machine



Aug. 6, 1963 G. LIEBRANDT 3,099,921

WARP KNITTING MACHINE Filed Feb. 1, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet l FIG. 1

PR/OR 14? T Aug. 6, 1963 e. LIEBRANDT WARP KNITTING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 1, 1961 United States Patent 3,099,921 WARP KNITTING MACHINE Gunner Liebrandt, Naila-Frosehgrun, Bavaria, Germany, assignor to Karl Liebrandt, Naila-Oberklingenspom, Germany Filed Feb. 1, 1961, Ser. No. 86,363 Claims priority, application Germany Feb. 18, 1%0 Claims. (Cl. 66-86) The present invention is related to warp knitting machines, particularly to Raschel machines, usually comprising two or more thread guide bars, which carry rows of warp thread guides extending parallel to the row of knitting needles.

To produce decorative effects, it is known to shift the warp thread guides along their longitudinal axis by means of a patterning mechanism, e.g. a device known as Jacquard. Thus, the warp thread guides perform, aside from their lateral motion parallel to the row of needles, a reciprocating motion in the direction of their own longitudinal axis.

In the operation of such devices, fabric faults are likely to result from the fact that, during the raising of the guides in the rear guide bar position, the threads will pass between the guides of the front guide bar and will be laterally displaced by the front guide bar during its subsequent overlap motion, so that they also may be worked into loops.

It is an object of the present invention to improve the operation of a warp knitting machine having reciprocating thread guides.

It is a further object of the invention to provide simple and eifective means for preventing the occurrence of fabric faults in such machines.

Another object of the invention is to provide such means readily adaptable to warp knitting machines already installed.

According to the invention, I provide thread deflecting means arranged alongside and between the thread guide rows. Thus I prevent the guides of one guide bar from displacing threads of another guide bar. A wire or bar is particularly suitable for the intended purpose.

The invention will be more fully understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a simplified, schematic illustration of a section of a known Raschel machine;

FIG. 2 shows the same section with a deflecting bar according to the invention;

FIG. 3 is a side view showing the mounting of the deflecting bar in detail; and

.FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing the overall mechanism of a Raschel machine embodying the invention.

Referring now to FIG. 1, only one knitting needle 1 is shown secured to a needle holder 2. It is to be understood that several needles are arranged in a row extending perpendicular to the plane of the drawing and that these needles are longitudinally reciprocable so as to perform a knitting operation. Two thread guide bars, not shown, are provided, extending parallel to the row of knitting needles. The front guide bar carries several thread guides, one of which is shown at 3. The rear guide bar carries a corresponding number of thread guides, one of which is shown at 4 in its normal position. These guides are adapted to be reciprocated by a patterning mechanism schematically shown at 22, between the normal and the raised position, the latter being shown at 4', in the direction of the double arrow 5. As can be recognized from the dot-and-dash line 6, the thread of a raised thread guide 4 will encroach upon the space between the thread ice guides 3 and therefore will be displaced during the overlap motion and worked into a loop.

.This is avoided by the provision of deflecting means according to the present invention, one embodiment being shown in FIG. 2. Alongside and between the front and rear guide bars carrying the respective thread guides 3 and 4, a bar or rod 7 is provided to deflect the thread 6 in such a manner that it cannot pass between the guides 3. Thus, an unintended lateral displacement coming from the threads 6 of the thread guides 4, 4' by the thread guides 3 is prevented in an extremely simple and reliable manner. The threads coming from the guides 4 cannot, consequently, encroach upon the space between the guides 3 even if the former are raised during their reciprocation performed by the mechanism 22.

The deflecting bar or rod 7 may be mounted on a front guide bar 8 as shown in FIG. 3. An elongated plate 9 is secured, e.g., to the guide bar 8 by screws 10, 11 and carries the bar 7 extending along the guide bar and being supported by a member 12. Fastening is effected by screws 13, 14. As shown, the lower edge of the bar 7 preferably protrudes into the proximity of the guide eyes 15 at the ends of thread guides 3. By this arrangement, the bar 7 is rigidly attached to, made coextensive and stationary with respect to the guides 3. The relative position of members 7, 3 will remain unchanged throughout the operation of the knitting machine.

The parts of a knitting machine as hereinbefore described are designated by the same numerals in the overall view of FIG. 4. The machine is shown having only two rows of thread guides, viz. 3 and 4, but any number of rows may be provided.

The front guide bar 8 is secured to a bar support 16, the thread guides 3 remaining stationary with respect to the guide bar 8. Warp threads 17 are delivered to the guides 3 from reels 18 mounted on a frame 19 of the machine. Tensioning of the threads is effected by a suitable resilient member 20.

The reciprocating thread guides 4 are slidably mounted in a rear guide bar 21. Their motion is controlled in a known manner by the conventional patterning mechanism 22 by means of individual cords 23 secured to the top ends of the guides 4, and individual coil springs 24 for repositioning the guides. Warp threads 6 are delivered to the guides 4 over rollers 25 from other reels, not shown.

The guide bars 8, 21 are pivotally mounted on a shaft 26 and perform an arcuate swinging motion, as shown by a double arrow 27. A cam drive is provided for this purpose, comprising a cam disc 28 secured to a shaft 29 which is driven by a motor 30. A lever 31 pivotally mounted on a shaft 32 carries a cam follower 33. A spring 34 urges the lever 31 downwards, so that the cam follower 33 contacts the cam 28.

A rod 35 connects the lever 31 with an elongated hole 36 of a lever 37 forming part of the guide bar assembly 8, 21, thereby effecting the swinging motion in accordance with the cam shape.

Similarly, a rod 38 connects an elongated hole 39 of the lever 31 with a lever 40 pivotally mounted on a shaft 41 and carrying a needle bar 42. Secured to the needle bar are the needle holders '2 with the knitting needles 1 moving up and down, as shown by the double arrow 43, in timed relation to the swinging motion of the guide bars. The knitted fabric 44 is led over rollers 45, 46, 47, 48 to a roller 49 which receives the finished material.

So far, the machine shown schematically in FIG. 4 is of conventional design and its operation, having been mentioned in connection with FIG. 1, need not be described in detail. However, to assure proper knitting, a deflecting bar or rod 7 is secured to the guide bar 8 in a manner shown in FIG. 3. Thus the thread 6 is prevented from entering the space between the guides 3 even if the guide 4 has been raised by the patterning mechanism 22. More than one row of reciprocating thread guides, arranged to the left of the guides 4, may be used without difliculty. They have been omitted in FIG. 4 for the sake of simplicity.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail, it will be apparent to persons skilled in the art that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from its scope.

I claim:

1. A warp knitting machine comprising at least two thread guide bars, each carrying a row of spaced thread guides, a patterning mechanism for reciprocating the thread guides of at least one thread guide bar in the direction of the longitudinal axis of said thread guides, and thread deflecting means secured to the guide bar carrying thread guides not influenced by the patterning mechanism, said thread deflecting means extending alongside and between two of said rows of thread guides and being substantially coextensive and stationary with respect to said non-influenced thread guides.

2. A warp knitting machine comprising at least two thread guide bars, one guide bar carrying thread deflecting means facing the adjacent guide bar and extending over the length of said guide bars, said deflecting means being rigidly attached to and'occupying the same position relative to said one guide bar throughout the operation of said machine.

3. In a warp knitting machine having a row of longitudinally reciprocable knitting needles, a plurality of thread guides performing an arcuate swinging movement with respect to said needles and being arranged in at least two rows, separate guide bars for each of said rows of thread guides, and a. patterning mechanism for longitudinally reciprocating the thread guides of at least one row, the thread guides of the row closest to said needles in one of the extreme swinging positions being stationary with respect to the reciprocated rows of thread guides, the improvement comprising thread deflecting means arranged alongside and between said rows of thread guides, said deflecting means being secured to the guide bar of said closest row, whereby the threads coming from said reciprocated thread guides are prevented from encroaching upon the space occupied by said closest row of thread guides.

4. In a warp knitting machine, the improvement as set forth in claim 3, wherein said thread deflecting means consist of rod-shaped members secured to said guide bar of the closest row and protrude with their forward ends into the end region of said closest row of thread guides.

5. A thread deflector for a rwarp knitting machine having first and second thread guide bars, at least one thread guide on each of said bars, the thread guide of said first bar being longitudinally reciprocable, the thread guide of said second bar being stationary with respect to said second bar, comprising a member secured above the thread guide of said second bar and protrudinginto the proximity of the end of the thread guide of said second bar.

References Cited in the file of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS 328,175 France Dec. 17, 1903 

1. A WARP KNITTING MACHINE COMPRISING AT LEAST TWO THREAD GUIDE BARS, EACH CARRYING A ROW OF SPACED THREAD GUIDES, A PATTERNING MECHANISM FOR RECIPROCATING THE THREAD GUIDES OF AT LEAST ONE THREAD GUIDE BAR IN THE DIRECTION OF THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID THREAD GUIDES, AND THREAD DEFLECTING MEANS SECURED TO THE GUIDE BAR CARRYING THREAD GUIDES NOT INFLUENCED BY THE PATTERNING MECHANISM, SAID THREAD DEFLECTING MEANS EXTENDING ALONGSIDE AND BETWEEN TWO OF SAID ROWS OF THREAD GUIDES AND BEING SUBSTANTIALLY COEXTENSIVE AND STATIONARY WITH RESPECT TO SAID NON-INFLUENCED THREAD GUIDES. 